Some parents may be wondering how to keep their young child’s time occupied with summer on its way.

Residents of Laveen are ready for the South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway to be built.

Desert Vista High School students this week presented a near-complete application for teacher evaluations to be rolled out in the fall, a project more than a year in the making.

The football coaches evidently can’t wait until August for their first showdown of the year.

At a May 21 public hearing, the Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board will consider raising property taxes within the limit permitted in the state constitution and statute (A.R.S §15-1461.01).

The 2013 legislative session began with a unanimous vote in the House and the Senate to appropriate emergency funding for additional Child Protective Services staff. With that vote, lawmakers affirmed child safety as a top priority.

Phoenix police said they arrested a volunteer drama teacher from Mountain Pointe High School yesterday after a former student told police he had a relationship with the teacher while a minor.

Higley Unified School District athletic director Art Wagner, 42, was found dead near Higley High School Wednesday morning, according to the Gilbert Police Department. Police say the matter is still under investigation, but believe Wagner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Students and staff at Kyrene Altadeña Middle School are hosting a fundraiser dinner for their beloved choir teacher this week.

In the interest of serving you, our loyal reader – and Ahwatukee resident – better, the Ahwatukee Foothills News is asking for your help!

The Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department will ban open fires in city mountain and desert preserves effective Monday, May 13. In consultation with the Phoenix Fire Department, smoking and charcoal fires are included in the ban due to the extreme fire danger that the combination of low humidity, increasing temperatures and frequent high winds creates each spring. Additional information on the ban is available online at phoenix.gov/parks.

The Phoenix City Council will vote on the final draft of the city’s 2013-14 budget, which includes new efficiencies in the city’s public information office, parks and public transit, on May 21 but Councilman Sal DiCiccio says the city could have increased even more services if staff didn’t get any raises or bonuses.

By the time a client parks their car and walks up to the front doors of Harvest of Tempe, the southeast Valley’s only medical marijuana dispensary, he or she, their license plate, and their car have all been caught on camera.

A line started forming outside of The Venue in Old Town Scottsdale as Cook, Quian and friends arrived.

Since her sister’s health took a drastic downturn this past February, Mountain Pointe High School teacher Donna Sampanes is organizing a blood drive at the school this weekend in an effort to help her sibling.

Stretched along Kyrene Centennial Middle School’s track on Saturday for the district’s first Acts of Kindness event, Kyrene Monte Vista Elementary students raked in a paper chain with more than 3,000 links representing random acts of kindness.

Doria MeChelle is a teacher by day, salon owner by night, and once a month she flies across the country to do the hair of faithful clients. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mountain Pointe has made it to the final four of the baseball season for the fourth time since 2008.

Chamberlain College of Nursing announced the appointment of Dr. Pamela Fuller, of Ahwatukee, as president of its Phoenix campus. Fuller succeeds Dr. Kimberly LaMar, who has served as the Phoenix campus president since 2009 and now becomes senior director of campus operations at Chamberlain.

Music therapists

The Phoenix City Council voted on Wednesday to begin phasing out a portion of the city’s food tax on Jan. 1, 2014.

If anyone kicks off their retirement with a bang, it’s K.R. Scott.

Principal Shelley Conner said she’ll miss camaraderie the most at St. John Bosco in Ahwatukee.

According to the majority of the media and most of our elected officials we are not supposed to judge all Muslims by the acts of a few “crazies.” But the acts of a few American “crazies” are enough to judge all Americans who own guns.